When lacerations and incisions of the skin layer occurs in wounds, surgical operations and the like, it has been the practice to stitch the separated portions of the skin together for the purpose of reducing scar formation and to accelerate healing. Such stiching operation constitutes a surgical operation wherein the separated sections of the skin are brought together and then stitched by needle and thread to hold the separated sections together until the wound has healed. When sufficient time has elapsed, such as three to six days, the stitches are removed by pulling the stitches from the wound after the thread has been severed.
Such stitching operation constitutes a painful procedure which lasts over a considerable period of time. In addition, it requires the services of both hands of one or more physicians to hold the separated sections of the skin together, thread the needle, pass the needle through the adjacent edge sections of the skin layer, tie the thread with the desired tension to close the wound, and then to sever the loose ends of the thread when the stitch has been completed, all of which takes considerable time coupled with the interference of the bleeding wound.
The art has turned more recently to the use of metal clips which are applied by clip applicators which operate more or less in the fashion of a stapler to clip the free edges of the skin in a manner to hold the edges together until the wound has healed. The use of clips in clip applicators has materially reduced the time required to close a wound and it has been effective to reduce the amount of effort and the amount of assistance required to effect skin closure.
In U.S. Pat. No. 733,723, U.S. Pat. No. 816,026, U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,562 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,825, description is made of surgical skin clips and clip applicators wherein preformed clips are individually applied by a suitable applicator for skin closure. Such prior devices have found little acceptance in the medical field for any number of reasons including cost, ease of application, ease of removal, and exposure while in position of use to inadvertent engagements, with resultant pain and/or disengagement of the clip.